Excuse the bad pun, but The Corner Butcher, owned and
operated by John and Will Fuelling, has been killing it lately, drawing more
fans to their establishment with their daily specials, like carne asada tacos
and a beer for $6, buy one prime ribeye steak and get one free, and their bring
a friend to lunch deal, an offer that includes two sandwiches, two sides and two
drinks for $15.

Then on Friday, to celebrate, its sixth year in business, it
was handing out two-for-one gourmet hot dogs faster than LeBron James puts up
points in the fourth quarter.

It seems that the red-blooded, beef-eating brothers have
become the go-to caterer in town as customers have snapped up their party
trays, dips, barbecue and more to entertain their guests for an ongoing slate
of college bowl and now NFL playoff games, which will culminate with the Super
Bowl game on Feb. 2, anticipated to be the most watched television event in
history.

If you’re in the neighborhood, be sure to stop by, grab a
list of daily and game-time specials and see what else is cooking at The Corner
Butcher Shop. It’s located at 2359 Foothill Blvd in La Verne. For more info,
call 909.596.6345.

]]>http://www.laverneonline.com/2014/01/18/prime-performers-the-corner-butcher-shop-slices-up-the-competition/feed/Puppets to Land in La Verne for Really Big Show … by Jennifer Helmhttp://www.laverneonline.com/2014/01/06/puppets-to-land-in-la-verne-for-really-big-show-by-jennifer-helm/
http://www.laverneonline.com/2014/01/06/puppets-to-land-in-la-verne-for-really-big-show-by-jennifer-helm/#commentsMon, 06 Jan 2014 17:28:34 +0000adminhttp://www.laverneonline.com/?p=19715

Scott Land makes magic in his workshop.

Scott Land is an entertainer at the top of his game. His nearly four-decade career has recently put him on the A-list for movies, television, Hollywood royalty, Las Vegas and a world tour. You would think a guy like that wouldn’t have time for a little elementary school like Grace Miller in La Verne.

But you would be wrong. Scott is donating his time to do a show at the Hillcrest Main Meeting Room at 7 p.m., Jan. 22. Tickets are only $3, with all of the proceeds going to Grace Miller PTA to help fund field trips, the Birthday Books program and other student programs. The show is only one of many shows and fundraisers that Scott and his menagerie of marionettes perform for children throughout the year.

Land gave Jay Leno something to smile about.

Scott started his performing career at the age of 12 with his show, “Scott’s Things on Strings,” performing at malls and birthday parties in his hometown of Redlands, Calif. As an adult, he studied the old world art of marionettes with Bob Baker, Albrecht Roser, Phillip Huber (Being John Malkovich) and Michael Earl (Sesame Street). His shows have become a favorite among the stars of Hollywood, including Jennifer Lopez, Barbra Streisand, Whoopi Goldberg, Tom Hanks, and Steven Spielberg, and he is also a favorite of the Dalai Lama! He is currently a regular feature performer at David Arquette’s club “Bootsy Bellows,” and has extended his one-month gig at the Venetian into a residency in Las Vegas.

Land carved out the likeness of President Obama.

His movie resume includes “The Princess Diaries II,” “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” and the most recent, “A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III.” But his biggest career highlight was working with Trey Parker and Matt Stone as lead puppeteer for the all-marionette comedy, “Team America: World Police.”

Also a master puppet builder, Scott designs and builds all of his own puppets, each with its own signature trick or “special effect.”. You never know what his creations are going to do, and you will wonder how they did it! Scott also has a special talent for crafting “portrait puppets,” which are puppets that resemble famous people. Some of his portraits have included Jack Nicholson, Michael Jackson, Simon Cowell, Jennifer Lopez and Morgan Freeman. He even designed a puppet of President Obama and brought it to Washington DC for the Million Puppet March. His portrait puppets have been recently featured on the “Craig Ferguson Show.”

Tickets will be available on Jan. 13, from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., M-F at Grace Miller Elementary, 1620 Holly Oak in La Verne. Seats are limited, so it is recommended you purchase them early. Any unsold tickets will be available at the door, 30 minutes prior to the show.

For more information about Scott Land Marionettes, go to www.ThePuppetMan.com or just type <Scott Land Marionettes> on your search engine. If you would like to donate to the Grace Miller PTA, call Grace Miller Elementary 909-971-8206.

Well, folks, yet another year is soon coming to an end. Which means another year in Sports is coming to an end. Let’s see if we can combine the two and create some entertainment for ourselves….ok?

First; baseball. The bearded Boston Red-Sox became the hairiest team to ever win the World Series, and the hairiest team period since the fabled House Of David squad, a century ago. If my mother were alive, she’d say, “It doesn’t mean a thing until they get their hair cut!” So I guess, for me, the Red-Sox winning the World Series is significant because it reminds me of my mother. What a hoot she was….

Speaking of baseball, did you know that they are finally going to blow up Candlestick Park? It’s about time. The 49ers play their final game there on Monday. Maybe the worst sports stadium of all time.

But also a source of great memories. The San Francisco Giants (my favorite baseball team) played their games there for 40 years, ending in 2000. It was a baseball park so cold that the great Yankees right fielder Roger Maris once remarked that if he had to play there every day, he’d retire. Ironically, Maris had one of his greatest moments in Candlestick’s right field, when his throw to the cut-off man in the 7th game of the 1962 World Series held Matty Alou at third base, leading directly to the Yankees winning the game and the series a minute or two later, when Willie McCovey’s liner nestled into Bobby Richardson’s glove. I myself went to two baseball games there in my life. The first one was in 1976, and it was an epic. I was in college up there at the time, and my cousin Bobby invited me to go to a Cubs/Giants game with a bunch of his fellow transplanted Chicago stockbrokers. During the game a full scale on-field riot broke out, when Jim Barr hit the Cubbies’ star 3rd baseman Bill Madlock with a pitch. Maybe the greatest baseball brawl ever. And I was right there. Twenty years old, in college, on my own (sort of), with my whole damn life before me. God, I miss being young…..

Basketball. I need to say a few words about Kobe Bean Bryant. First of all, I love that a famous guy’s middle name is Bean. Beyond funny. But things haven’t been so funny for the Black Mamba lately. He tore his Achilles tendon at the end of last season, and now, just after he finally returned to the court, he broke a bone in his leg. Out six weeks. Oh sure, he can take solace in the $48 Million dollar contract extension he just signed. But I don’t think he’ll ever be a basketball superstar again. I really don’t. He might be good, but he’ll never again be great. Not after those two serious injuries back-to-back. Plus pretty soon he’ll figure out that the Lakers are no good and that he’ll, therefore, never win another title. Which will sap whatever enthusiasm to be great he has left in the tank. And there’s one more reason Kobe will never again be great….Kobe is OLD! He’s a 35-year-old man trying to play basketball. This year is shot. Next year he’ll be 36 when the season starts. You know what Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, Bill Walton, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson all had in common when they were 36? They were already retired.

But as Kobe fades from greatness, when I think of him in years to come the first thing that will pop into my mind will be his admitted sexual encounter (be it rape or otherwise) with the pudgy 19-year-old desk clerk in Colorado in 2003. Which makes Kobe the basketball Bill Clinton. In this world you are what you do. You can’t un-ring the scandal bell. Kobe will always be the guy who did the pudgy desk clerk in Colorado. Clinton will always be the guy who got hummers from the pudgy intern in the Oval Office. Period.

No, the Sports Philosopher hasn’t been dipping into the sacramental wine.

Think about it. In 1972, our 37th president was on the verge of all-time greatness. He’d opened the door to Red China. He was about to end the Vietnam War. America was going through a period of decent prosperity. And he was about to be elected as president for the 2nd time, in a landslide. The same man who a decade earlier had lost elections for both president and governor. He was on the verge of immortality. But no, rather than turn in the Watergate burglars and take responsibility for it and say right away it was wrong and he didn’t know about it (which would have made him downright beloved), he decided to “stonewall” it and try simply not to get caught. Well, he got caught. And he had to resign in disgrace. What a boob.

Same with Bonds. He was already one of the greatest players of all time. But then rather than just accept that, and waltz into the Hall Of Fame, he gulped Steroids, became maybe thee greatest player of all time….but like Nixon, he got caught. So in 2007 he went from earning $15 million a year to not a single major league team offering him a contract for the major league minimum salary. And the writers will never let him in the Hall. Just as they refused him admittance this year. It is one of the saddest and strangest sagas in recent baseball history…. What a boob.

Golf in 2013 (and every year) was about Tiger Woods. I never thought I’d say this, but I’m starting to feel sorry for the guy. It’s been almost 6 years since he won his last major. Unthinkable. And do you suppose his girlfriend, skier Lindsay Vonn, quizzes him from time to time on whether he’s backslid and gone back to hookers, waitresses, and porn stars? And have you noticed how much Vonn looks like a couple of Tiger’s old mistresses?

Tennis 2013 was all about Rafael Nadal. He is a living metaphor for all of us, regarding the overcoming of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. And if I had to pick a “2013 Athlete Of The Year”, Rafa would be it.

Speaking of awards, it’s time to hand out the Sports Philosopher’s cherished annual PLAXICO BURRESS I’M SO STUPID IT’S IMPOSSIBLE FOR EVEN SMART PEOPLE TO FIGURE ME OUT AWARD for 2013. It goes to the year’s dumbest athlete. We call it “The Plaxico” for short. Plaxico Burress, the man the award is named after, was of course the inaugural winner of the award in 2009, for shooting himself in the leg at a New York City nightclub. Which of course is really dumb on its face, but which also led directly to his going to prison for two years for carrying a gun. Other annual winners include Gilbert Arenas, Chad Ochocinco, and Manny Ramirez. And this year’s winner of The Plaxico….roll of the drums please….goes to Baltimore Ravens linebacker Elvis Dumervil. The reason Elvis is even on the Ravens is why he won the award. Y’see, Elvis spent the first 7 seasons of his career with the Denver Broncos. And he wanted to stay on the Broncos. He even agreed to a minor restructuring of his contract so that the Broncos could keep him and still save a little money. Furthermore, his $12 Million dollar salary for 2013 was guaranteed. Guaranteed provided, that is, that he got the proper paperwork for the restructure deal into the Broncos’ office by 2:00 p.m. MT (4:00 p.m. EST) on March 15th 2013. Well, Elvis and his agent must have gotten a little confused along the way, because the paperwork was faxed in at 2:06 p.m. Six minutes late. The Broncos used this convenient loophole to void Dumervil’s contract, they released him immediately, and saved themselves millions of dollars of salary cap room. It all happened quicker than you can say Elvis has left the Broncos’ building. Dumervil promptly fired his agent, and signed a contract with Baltimore a couple weeks later for far less money. Worse than that, he’s not on the team he wanted to be on. Baltimore is having an off year. Denver is favored to go to the Super Bowl. Enough said.

Anyway, congratulations, Elvis.

Finally, a final word about NFL football. And it’s about the aforementioned Denver Broncos. Because in football, for me, 2013 comes down to one guy, Peyton Manning. Denver’s quarterback. Manning is the greatest regular-season NFL quarterback ever. For instance, he just broke the record for touchdown passes in a season. But of the great QBs, he’s also the worst playoff performer ever. The worst! EIGHT 1st-round exits. Several mind-numbing interceptions. Last year, with the season on the line, he meekly took a knee in regulation….and then threw the season-blowing interception in overtime. In the payoffs, Peyton sucks. It’s the NFL’s dirty little secret that no one wants to talk about. It’s the elephant in the room. So, looking ahead to 2014, I’ll be watching to see if he can overcome 15 years of perplexing failure in the post-season. The Broncos are a powerhouse. They are favored to win it all. If Manning plays great they will win. But if he doesn’t and they don’t….

Okay, big picture. It can be the same with you and me. We all have things about ourselves and our lives we’d like to change. The question is can we—you, me, and Peyton Manning—all make 2014 the year we finally do so? Can we improve and break through? Can we all practice what I’m preaching?

Who knows? Just do your best. Happy Holidays, everybody.

TSP

meet….The Sports Philosopher!

Brad Eastland is an author, an historian, a film buff, an undiscovered literary savant, and a lover of sports for both its own sake and the sake of history. Brad’s other recent columns for La Verne Online can be found in the Sports Section under ‘The Sports Philosopher’ and also in Viewpoint under ‘Brad Eastland’s View’. His columns on very old and very underappreciated movies can be found by clicking Arts & Entertainment, then clicking ’Upon Further Review’. Brad has also written 4 fine novels* and over 20 short-stories.

*Brad has a new book out. It’s called “L.A. JOURNAL”, a collection of stories about Los Angeles. To pick up a copy simply search for that title in both hardback and paperback on amazon.com, iUniverse.com, or bn.com. And then order it. And then READ it. And then tell everyone about it. And then read it again. And then post your praise on Facebook. For all this and all your support he thanks you…..

]]>http://www.laverneonline.com/2013/12/22/the-sports-philosopher-presents-2013-the-year-in-review/feed/These Brothers Are Not for Sale, But They Are for Rent … by Peter Bennetthttp://www.laverneonline.com/2013/12/22/these-brothers-are-not-for-sale-but-they-are-for-rent-by-peter-bennett/
http://www.laverneonline.com/2013/12/22/these-brothers-are-not-for-sale-but-they-are-for-rent-by-peter-bennett/#commentsSun, 22 Dec 2013 23:16:37 +0000adminhttp://www.laverneonline.com/?p=19703

Tom Hughes will rent you everything from a sewer snake to a scissors lift, just no snow blowers, at least not yet anyway.

Tom and Tim Hughes are good people to know, especially this time of year.

When Cordel Goode over-invited guests to her nighttime Christmas party this year, she feared they would spill onto her patio and freeze to death, given the recent snap of cold weather. Tim got her some patio heaters.

“He solved my problem, and I was really pleased,” Goode said.

Another resident wanted to impress his neighbors by stringing Christmas tree lights to the top of his 30-foot tree. Tom delivered a 30-foot scissors lift to his driveway.

Tom and Tim are the owners of Hometown Rentals, which boasts rental yards in Pomona and San Dimas. This year completes their 25th year in business.

To each brother, it seems like only yesterday when Tom saw an 8 ½ by 11 white sheet of paper advertising that C&G Rentals in San Dimas was for sale. At the time, Tom was a food broker and Tim sold hardware, software and training support to rental yards. The C&G owner initially dismissed Tom as a looky-loo, but when Tom returned with a broker specializing in purchasing rental yards, the owner knew he was serious.

For seed money, Tom approached his parents and said he needed “X” dollars.

“My mom said I’ll give you “Y,” but if you’re brother comes in, I’ll give you the other half, and you’ll have “X.”

She was a smart momma, and the two brothers have been in business ever since, renting post-hole diggers, bolt cutters, air nailers, wood chippers, chain saws, stump grinders, sanders, polishers, scrubbers, pool pumps, hydraulic and mechanical jacks, hedge trimmers, tractors, trailers and a full supply of party rentals from tent tops to dance floors.

“About the only thing we don’t rent is a snow blower,” Tim said.

For Tom, who also sits on the board of the California Rental Association, buying, then growing, a rental yard business was a natural.

“I had always worked on cars, houses, boats and bicycles,” he said in his bunker-like Garey Ave. office. “I was intrigued that this was just like owning a huge garage stuffed with tools. But instead of owning one air compressor, I might own 10.”

After purchasing the San Dimas location, they added the Pomona store and a third in Arcadia. They have since sold the Arcadia store. Through their years, their inventory has grown, reflecting the needs of the community and customer requests.

They’ve warded off competition by the flight-by-nights and the Home Depots, which entered the rental business about five years ago.

“You always sweat customers,” Tom said, “but time always tells, and we’re still here. People know who we are and how to find us. You stay and make it work.”

Indeed, that has been a winning formula for the brothers. So, when a freak windstorm ripped through the Southland a couple of Christmases ago, contractors and homeowners alike knew whom to call for generators, chainsaws, wood chippers and log splitters.

No party is too big or small for Tim Hughes, at party rental central in San Dimas.

“That log splitter is a heckuva deal,” Tom said. “It’s better than using an axe or a sledge hammer. For $97.50 a day, you can split the logs mechanically. All you have to do is drag the log to the splitter and pull the handle.”

Although Tom and Tim know their business inside out, they admit things don’t always go off without a hitch or that every item that goes out the door, comes back through the door.

Tom recalls how a customer crashed one of his trailers doing 75 mph down the 57 freeway while intoxicated and hauling a concrete saw. More recently, he said he got a call from the Riverside County district attorney’s office saying it had retrieved a trailer he had rented more than a year earlier.

When items aren’t returned per agreement, and the customer’s deposit doesn’t cover the extra hours or days, Tom or Tim will find themselves in small claims court. “These are exceptions, not the rule,” Tim said.

To ensure their customers receive a positive experience, Tom, Tim or one of their employees will patiently and painstakingly show the customer how to safely operate every rental in their yard. If they like, customers can also purchase insurance if they feel they need that extra layer of protection in the event of operator error.

“Insurance doesn’t cover stupidity, however,” Tom said, chuckling.

Still, their business M.O. has been to rent to just about anybody, believing you can’t judge a book by its cover. “Well, we try not to rent to tweakers,” Tom said.

Another reason Tom and Tim have been successful – even through serious economic downturns – is they literally cater to all seasons. When it’s the holiday season, their party rental business booms and when spring arrives and thoughts turn to home improvement projects, they see demand for lawn, garden and concrete-related (jack-hammering, sawing, pouring, hauling, etc.) projects pick up.

The San Dimas rental yard houses all of the party rental equipment. Indeed, it features a separate showroom filled with china and flatware, plus snow cone, popcorn and cotton candy machines.

“We didn’t want to have a lady in here planning a wedding while she was seated next to a sewer snake,” Tim said.

When it comes to rentals, Tom and Tim believe they pretty much have it all. If you live in the area, you’ve probably been sheltered by one of their clear- or white-walled tents at an Easter sunrise service or a San Dimas rodeo. They constantly invest in new equipment and thoroughly test everything before it leaves the yard. Indeed, they believe so much in what they carry and how it can be used and applied to help customers save time and money, they would like to see more people undertake their own projects, ending what Tom called the “wimpification” of America, whereby Americans outsource too many doable tasks to others.

When a customer drives by the Pomona facility, there’s no mistaking that it’s a rental yard. The San Dimas store, however, features a steeple and an arch, which you could easily mistake for a church, mission or mausoleum.

“Some people drive by and sign the cross,” Tim said, smiling.

Perhaps, that’s the appropriate response. That’s because the business has been a godsend for many, like Mrs. Goode, who at the last second realized she needed those heat lamps to keep her guests warm on a cold winter night.

It has also been a blessing that has helped two brothers build a business and a bond now about to enter its second quarter century.

The Pomona rental yard (909.596.3799) is at 2610 N. Garey Ave. The San Dimas store (909.599.3141) is at 1325 W. Arrow Hwy. For more information, visit www.hometownrentals.net.

They've Got It Covered: From left, Vicki Brown, Sandy Boulware, Michelle Boulware, Denae Hollar and Lori Hollar blanketed the Christmas in the Park event with the true spirit of giving.

You’ve got to hand it 14-year-old Denae Hollar. That’s because she handed out 30 beautiful hand-crafted tie blankets to those in need of something warm and fuzzy at the sixth annual Sowing Seeds for Life “Christmas in the Park” toy giveaway and food pantry held on Saturday, Dec. 14, at Ganesha Park in Pomona.

Credit the eighth grader at Ramona Middle School in La Verne for coming up with a great idea for earning her Silver Award as a Girl Scout Cadette. The Silver Award is the highest award a Girl Scout Cadette can earn. The Gold Award, the next step, is the highest achievement in Girl Scouts but available only to those in high school.

If young Denae Hollar continues in scouting, she’s going to be hard-pressed to come up with a project that tops what she did for her Silver Award. She knew that in order to earn that award, she must engage in a project that would benefit those in her community. She came through with flying colors – literally.

She spent 40-plus hours creating the colorful tie blankets that she handed out at Saturday at Ganesha Park. The blankets, consisting of two kinds of fabric, had to be cut so that ties could be created around them.

“Each blanket took about an hour and a half to do,” Denae said.

The Sowing Seeds for Life event was the perfect place for Denae to conclude her project. She and her friend from Troop No. 3094, Michelle Boulware, with help from their moms, set up a booth that became very popular during the event.

Michelle’s older sister Rachel, a senior at Bonita High, also worked the event as a volunteer, helping hand out the toys.

Sowing Seeds for Life is a La Verne-based charity founded by Vicki Brown, the CEO of DPI Labs, located at 1350 Arrow Highway. SSFL, as it is known for short, provides food and services to some 6,000 people per month, mainly through twice-a-month food pantries. They are held the first and third Wednesday of every month in the DPI Labs parking lot.

Volunteer Rachel Bouleware, a senior at Bonita High, waits for a young customer to decide on which toy he wants.

The charity’s annual “Christmas in the Park” event is one of its biggest functions of the year, as hundreds of children and their families show up to get a free toy and a photo with Santa Claus. The event also includes a food pantry that offers mostly non-perishable items, plus an impressive lineup of entertainment.

This year’s event was another successful one, despite a wardrobe malfunction of some sort for Santa. It caused a considerable delay and some anxious moments, but at least he didn’t have to go all the way to the North Pole to rectify the situation.

Santa eventually did show up, as did Pomona Mayor Elliott Rothman and Pomona City Council member Debra Martin.

The presence of the two city officials is further proof of the growing stature of Sowing Seeds for Life, as it has grown from a small vegetable garden planted by Vicki Brown at her home in Glendora in 2007 to what it is today.

And with young people like Denae Hollar and the Boulware sisters getting involved, plus all the hard work put in by Vicki Brown and her band of giving volunteers, SSFL figures to continue to grow and show that the city of La Verne is a giving place.

They’ve Got It Covered: From left, Vicki Brown, Sandy Boulware, Michelle Boulware, Denae Hollar and Lori blanketed the Christmas in the Park event with the true spirit of giving.

You’ve got to hand it 14-year-old Denae Hollar. That’s because she handed out 30 beautiful hand-crafted tie blankets to those in need of something warm and fuzzy at the sixth annual Sowing Seeds for Life “Christmas in the Park” toy giveaway and food pantry held on Saturday, Dec. 14, at Ganesha Park in Pomona.
Credit the eighth grader at Ramona Middle School in La Verne for coming up with a great idea for earning her Silver Award as a Girl Scout Cadette. The Silver Award is the highest award a Girl Scout Cadette can earn. The Gold Award, the next step, is the highest achievement in Girl Scouts but available only to those in high school.
If young Denae Hollar continues in scouting, she’s going to be hard-pressed to come up with a project that tops what she did for her Silver Award. She knew that in order to earn that award, she must engage in a project that would benefit those in her community. She came through with flying colors – literally.
She spent 40-plus hours creating the colorful tie blankets that she handed out at Saturday at Ganesha Park. The blankets, consisting of two kinds of fabric, had to be cut so that ties could be created around them.
“Each blanket took about an hour and a half to do,” Denae said.
The Sowing Seeds for Life event was the perfect place for Denae to conclude her project. She and her friend from Troop No. 3094, Michelle Boulware, with help from their moms, set up a booth that became very popular during the event.
Michelle’s older sister Rachel, a senior at Bonita High, also worked the event as a volunteer, helping hand out the toys.
Sowing Seeds for Life is a La Verne-based charity founded by Vicki Brown, the CEO of DPI Labs, located at 1350 Arrow Highway. SSFL, as it is known for short, provides food and services to some 6,000 people per month, mainly through twice-a-month food pantries. They are held the first and third Wednesday of every month in the DPI Labs parking lot.
The charity’s annual “Christmas in the Park” event is one of its biggest functions of the year, as hundreds of children and their families show up to get a free toy and a photo with Santa Claus. The event also includes a food pantry that offers mostly non-perishable items, plus an impressive lineup of entertainment.

Volunteer Rachel Bouleware, a senior at Bonita High, waits for a young customer to decide on which toy he wants.

This year’s event was another successful one, despite a wardrobe malfunction of some sort for Santa. It caused a considerable delay and some anxious moments, but at least he didn’t have to go all the way to the North Pole to rectify the situation.
Santa eventually did show up, as did Pomona Mayor Elliott Rothman and Pomona City Council member Debra Martin.
The presence of the two city officials is further proof of the growing stature of Sowing Seeds for Life, as it has grown from a small vegetable garden planted by Vicki Brown at her home in Glendora in 2007 to what it is today.
And with young people like Denae Hollar and the Boulware sisters getting involved, plus all the hard work put in by Vicki Brown and her band of giving volunteers, SSFL figures to continue to grow and show that the city of La Verne is a giving place.

]]>http://www.laverneonline.com/2013/12/15/volunteers-make-christmas-in-the-park-a-warm-and-fuzzy-affair-by-larry-stewart/feed/CHRISTMAS IN THE PARK: This Saturday, Santa Will Be Top ‘Seed’http://www.laverneonline.com/2013/12/10/christmas-in-the-park-this-saturday-santa-will-be-top-seed/
http://www.laverneonline.com/2013/12/10/christmas-in-the-park-this-saturday-santa-will-be-top-seed/#commentsTue, 10 Dec 2013 19:26:25 +0000adminhttp://www.laverneonline.com/?p=19681

Santa and Sowing Seeds founder Vicki Brown have their sleigh stuffed with lots of toys.

Sowing Seeds for Life’s fifth annual “Christmas in the Park” will be held Saturday, Dec. 14, at Ganesha Park on White Avenue in Pomona from noon to 4 p.m. The event draws upwards of 600-800 kids. Each child under the age of 13 will receive a toy.

Also, there will be live entertainment, crafts for kids, vendor booths, snack stands and photos with Santa Claus. There will also be a food pantry giveaway available for families in need as well. This event is a vital resource for families in need in the Inland Valley and East San Gabriel Valley.

Celebrities expected to take part again this year include former child actor Rodney Allen Rippy, best known for his Jack-In-the-Box commercials 40 years ago, singers Britney Young, Rick Barry, also known as Mr. Smooth Jazz, country music legend Jeremy James Bonner, Paige Sanders and many more. Boxing’s Sugar Shane Mosley of Pomona has been in special guest in past years but has not yet confirmed for this year’s event.

Sowings Seeds for Life, founded in 2007 by Glendora resident Vicki Brown, provides some 6,000 need people with food, clothing and services each month. Brown is also the CEO and president of DPI Labs, an aerospace manufacturing company located at 1350 Arrow Highway in La Verne. The DPI building also serves as the headquarters for Sowing Seeds for Life.

Food and toy donations are still very much needed. The community can drop donations at any of the locations below to help kids this holiday season.

Teresa and Demetrio Zago introduce furniture inspired by Italy and the New World.

Meld northern Italy’s unimpeachable reputation for design excellence with southern Mexico’s centuries’-old tradtion of incomparable craftsmanship, and you get Veneto, a new showroom in San Dimas, featuring beautiful handcrafted artisan funiture made from 100 percent reforested pinewood.

The story of how Veneto came to open its doors in San Dimas is a transglobal one, crossing generations and multinational borders.

Indeed, the 47,000-square foot store on the northeast of corner of Arrow Highway and Valley View takes its name from the Veneto (Venice) region of Italy, which includes the small town of Segusino, the ancestral home of Veneto owner Demetrio Zago.

Over the years, many of the town’s residents, including Zago’s family, migrated to Chipilo, Puebla in southern Mexico and became dairy farmers.

“I grew up a farmer, and my father was a veternarian, so I know my way around cows,” Zago said.

But as the dairy region was phased out, Chipilo’s resourceful citizens began to reclaim the old stables and stockyards, refashioning the abandoned beams and boards into exquisite pieces of rustic furniture, accented with inlays of marble and onyx from a nearby quarry.

It wasn’t long before Chipilo’s industrious residents turned the town into a furniture-making hub, an extraordinary transformation that caught the eye of investors from Segusino, Italy, which is the sister city of Chipilo. They invested in a large factory in Chipilo that now exports its unique rustic furniture to Greece, Spain, and other furniture-loving countries, including the United States.

Meanwhile, Zago came to the states about two decades ago, and while taking a job as an auto mechanic, the man, who grew up as a farmer and speaks Italian, Spanish and English, never forgot his rustic roots.

“This is my dream,” said Zago, standing in the middle of his showroom surrounded by coffee tables, curio cabinets, dressers, bedroom sets, barrel bars and other unique furniture pieces fashioned out of solid white pine and shipped directly from Chipilo.

If you’re expecting assembly-line, cookie-cut configurations sold at Mathis Brothers, Ikea or Livings Spaces, Veneto won’t be on your smart phone’s speed-dial. But if your tastes run toward the unique and unusual and that eye-catching curiosity, Veneto could provide an afternoon of splendid and serendipitous shopping. For instance, renowned painter Georgia O’Keeffe would feel right at home here because of the store’s colorful and often whimsical offerings with their rural and rustic charm, all handmade and hand-painted, many in bold and daring reds and bluish-greens.

Only about 30 percent of Veneto’s inventory is displayed on the showroom. “I wish we could display more,” Zago said.

That said, Veneto can help the client mix and match or special order because of its direct line to its Chipilo manufacturer.

What is on display exudes quality and value.

“There are no laminates or particle board; it’s all solid and handmade,” said showroom manager Chris Witkowski. “It’s not furniture that comes with a plastic bag of nuts and bolts and a confusing set of directions for you to put together like an erector set.”

Despite Veneto’s uncompromising quality, the store can offer many of its pieces for less than the big boxes.

“That’s because we have a direct line with our manufacturer and we don’t have the overhead, advertising budget or layers of management that major furniture stores have,” Witkowski added.

Veneto also has the home field advantage. Zago and his wife Teresa, who has worked in Bonita High School’s front office for the past 16 years, are San Dimas residents who live only about a mile from their new enterprise.

“We’re trying to make the store as comfortable, welcoming and homey as possible,” Teresa said.

Veneto appears to be the perfect neighbor for which the community has long been waiting!

And you can say that in English, Spanish, Italian or any other tongue that speaks great furniture!

***

Veneto welcomes you to its grand opening on Saturday, Dec. 7. Festivities will included food trucks, giveaways, more surprises and special pricing on selected furniture items. For more information, please call 909.599.7074.

Veneto is located at 1499 W. Arrow Hwy, in San Dimas in the Stater Brothers shopping center.

Here’s the Sports Philosopher giving the Jon-Jon salute in 2012, in front of the 3rd-grade classroom in Washington, Iowa, where he was sitting when he heard the awful news about JFK on Nov. 22nd, 1963.

A few days ago it was the 50th anniversary (“anniversary” seems like an oddly inappropriate word for such a thing, doesn’t it?) of President Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas? Say it out loud. Fifty years. Fifty years. Fifty years! Gives you goose bumps. But it doesn’t make it any easier to get your mind around it.

For me, an eight-year-old kid growing up in a very small town in Iowa, JFK’s execution was the first and still-best proof of the kind of world we live in and tippy-toe through. In other words, who are the bad guys pulling our strings, people? But fear not, this is not going to be (primarily, at least) a ‘Conspiracy vs. Lone Nut’ column. For one thing, it’d take too long. For another, I have found that trying to convince someone of what really happened to JFK is tantamount to trying to change somebody’s mind about politics or religion. That said, I don’t mind stating my position. I think that for an average marksman to fire three shots from a mediocre bolt-action weapon at a moving car all within less than six seconds, and “succeed” with two of the three, then conveniently leave all the evidence right there in the crow’s nest, and then run like mad down four flights of stairs in less than forty-five seconds, buy a coke, and stand there not a bit out of breath or at all flustered and calmly drink the coke without any thought or effort regarding getting the hell away right after having just committed the crime of the century is virtually impossible. But that’s just me.

So no, this column is not a detective piece.

Nor is it going to be some lame lionization of JFK the man. For while there was plenty of good attached to our 35th president (the Peace Corps, the crackdown on organized crime, the emphasis on racial tolerance, the drive toward lunar exploration, the youth, vigor, and vitality of Jack & Jackie’s Camelot of a White House etc.), there was also much that was comically bad and terribly flawed; the cold-bloodedness and mean streak, the electoral corruption securing his election, the Bay of Pigs fiasco, the reckless womanizing, and so on. So no, this isn’t a tearful eulogy five decades in the making.

Then what?

Well, after all, this space has always had at least a little something to do with Sports, and a little something to do with the larger world around us beyond Sports, and I see no reason to abort that dual-relevant principle now. In other words, it’s time for a little historical perspective.

First, the worldview. The way I see it, the way the dominos have fallen since 11-22-63 seems pretty easy to follow: JFK’s death meant we stayed in Viet Nam, it meant LBJ and the ratcheting up of the war’s body count, which lead to Nixon, which begat Watergate, which begat Gerald Ford, who though a very nice guy couldn’t restore America’s lost faith in its government (and don’t forget, Ford was on the Warren Commission), and that meant Carter, and economic chaos, not to mention American hostages in the Middle East, which made it easy for Reagan, down came the Berlin Wall, Bush Sr. rode in on Reagan’s coattails, which split the Republican party in ’92 (Perot), in rode Clinton, and then Clinton again, his wagging finger and the stained blue dress generating great humor fodder for late-nite comedians, Bush the younger becomes the patron saint of the lucky sperm club, then 9/11, amazingly we elect Bush Jr. again, then we suddenly decide we don’t like him after all so we switched parties yet again, meaning the time was ripe for Obama. And here we are.

Now look at Sports. Almost every single sport in this country has changed radically 1963. And in my opinion, I’m sorry to say, not for the better.

Consider what has happened in sports these last fifty years, since Dallas:

1 Football. It’s not the same game at all. Playing defense wasn’t illegal back then. In the old days, a defensive back could mug a wide receiver all over the field. Then came the “Mel Blount rule”, prohibiting contact after five yards. Result? Passing stats have gone through the roof, and offensive strategies have evolved accordingly. And ever since, there has been a parade of rules adopted making defense harder and offense easier. Liberalized pass blocking rules. Punitive late-hit rules. And now, quite recently, all sorts of rules protecting the quarterback to where you can’t even sneeze on the QB anymore. It cost the 49ers a ballgame against the Saints last week, there was a perfectly legit sack and fumble over-interpreted into a penalty by the zebras, simply because Drew Brees “looked” like he was hit illegally. One of the Niners remarked that the penalty happened because the 5-11 Brees is small and helpless looking, and he was exactly right. They didn’t clothesline him or spear him with a helmet or hit him in the head or neck or knees, they just hit him too hard! The 49ers were penalized essentially for doing their job too well. And don’t get me started on how they have all but eliminated the most exciting play in football, the kick-off return, because it’s “too dangerous”. Football dangerous? Wow. What a shocking discovery. Who knew?

2 Baseball. Since 1963 there have been many domed stadiums and Astroturf fields in pro baseball, things which did not exist before 11-22-63. Then, suddenly, they did. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. I’m a Karma guy these days. Astroturf was bad enough. But worse than that, they made a rule in the American League in 1973, whereby the pitcher didn’t even have to hit, and his spot in the batting order could in fact be taken by another player who didn’t even have to grab a glove and go out onto the field when his team wasn’t up to bat. They called it the “Designated Hitter”. What a stupid clunky name for a stupid, moronic rule. All praise goes to the National League for never adopting this insane policy. But I’ve never liked (or understood) two leagues with two different rules within the same organizational entity. And now we have the enervating taint of Steroids hanging over the game like a fart in the wind….

3 Boxing. Championship fights are 12 rounds now, not 15. John L. Sullivan and his bare knuckles are probably turning over in his grave. I guess they figured out that boxing was dangerous too….

4 Tennis. Watch footage of a tennis match from the 60s or 70s. Because the racquets were made of wood, the ball floats over the net like a drunken butterfly. Compared to today’s metal-driven power, it looks like a badminton game! But the game back then had far more strategy, skill, and creativity than now….and the players had more personality.

5 Golf. Speaking of wood. This one is weird. In the old days, the driving clubs were called “woods” because they were made of wood, and the fairway clubs were called “irons” because they were made of metal. The stuff of genius. But then, somewhere along the way, the wood woods were replaced by metal woods. Metal woods? Good grief. Wouldn’t you think there would have been a rule in place somewhere, whereby woods would always be made of wood??? Golf commentators still don’t know what to call these newly evolved clubs, usually opting for “metal-wood” or “fairway metal”. As for me, about the most eloquent I can be on the subject is to say that the whole thing is really bogus, dude.

6 Basketball. In the old days players wore tight-fitting shorts, ran up and down the court constantly, and games always went into the hundreds. Nowadays the shorts are as baggy as 1920s bathing suits, they walk the ball up court, scores are in the 80s, and banging really hard into guys in the low post is not only allowed, it’s encouraged. At some point hoops changed from grace and skill to violence. I hate it. I almost never watch an NBA game any more….

7 Horse Racing. This one has suffered the most. Year-round racing and off-track betting have ruined a once-great sporting spectacle. Over-breeding and over-emphasizing breeding over racing has made it even worse. In other words, greed has actually made for less profits, less attendance, less handle, less interest, less of everything. Crowds are down by 70%, 80%, 90% in some cases. Tracks close down all the time. Hollywood Park is closing. It’s a dying sport. Horse racing killed itself. Accidental suicide. Rest in peace. Sad.

Here’s what I want to know. Does the decline in virtually every sport have something to do with the JFK thing? Is the decline in the quality of Sports in general part of our penance, for our national complicity in allowing the kind of evil factors and complacent, naïve acceptance of corruption whereby such a crime could take place right under our noses??? I wonder. Nothing surprises me any more. Perhaps this penance stems from not taking a break from football for a couple weeks after JFK’s murder. Two days later, on 11-24-63, the NFL played a full slate of games. It bothered a lot of people, a lot of players too. In 2001, at least we took a week off from baseball after 9/11. But in ’63 we didn’t. I don’t know if we angered the gods or not. I don’t know. I mean who knows.

One thing is for sure. A lot of people from my generation live with the innate feeling that things have never been quite right since November 22nd, 1963. I myself am one of those people. It’s a hard thing to put your finger on, a hard thing to quantify. Who’s pulling our strings? Who’s calling the shots? Who’s really in charge? For me, now age 58, it was the first time in my life I realized that there was something very wrong with the way people treat other people in this world. Maybe that’s it. For Baby Boomers like me, at least. It really was the day the music died….

B.E.

PS—*And if you’re like me, and want them to move the kick-off line of scrimmage back 5 or 10 yards, in order to bring the kick-off return back into the sport, write Commissioner Goodell a letter. He’ll listen. All government tends to move in the direction it’s pressured. Just ask him. Ask not what football can do for you….ask what you can do to bring back football.

….

Meet The Sports Philosopher!

Brad Eastland is an author, an historian, a film buff, an undiscovered literary savant, and is a sucker for a good conspiracy theory. Brad’s other recent columns for La Verne Online can be found in the Sports Section under ‘The Sports Philosopher’ and also in Viewpoint under ‘Brad Eastland’s View’. His columns on very old and very underappreciated movies can be found by clicking Arts & Entertainment, then clicking ’Upon Further Review’. Brad has also written 4 fine novels* and over 20 short-stories.

*Brad has a new book out. It’s called

“L.A. JOURNAL”, a collection of stories about Los Angeles. To pick up a copy simply search for that title in both hardback and paperback on amazon.com, iUniverse.com, or bn.com. And then order it. And then READ it. And then tell everyone about it. And then read it again. And then post your praise on Facebook. For all this and all your support he thanks you…..

With about 35 years in the business, Marty Rodriguez has long been one of the top Realtors in the nationwide Century 21 real estate network. Indeed, her Glendora, Calif., team was No. 1 in 2012. She, herself, has closed thousands of transactions. LaVerneOnline.com thought it was time to pick the brain of this dynamic agent.

Do you conduct your business differently than you did five years ago?

Absolutlely. With the short sales and bank repos and the marketplace, in general, going down, then up again, you’re always adjusting and adapting. You have to go with the market. For instance, in just the last year, many of my clients have seen their home values rise $100,000 or more.

You’ve been in this busines more than three decades. Haven’t you pretty much seen everything and learned all there is to learn?

I’m learning every day. My dad said, “Learn something every day until the day you die.” If you’re not learning, you’re dead already. I’m constantly learning every day from the people around me.

Have you changed the way you allocate your advertising dollars?

When I started, I didn’t even have a computer. We still have print because we still have our print people, but we’ve shifted some of those dollars to the internet. We need to be all over the internet. The internet is both good and bad, but mostly it’s good.

What’s bad about it?

False information can appear, and you can rarely do anything about it. So that’s the negative. The positive is, I get an email from a guy in Taiwan, and he says, “Hi Marty, I really like your listing in Glendora, can you call my sister in Arcadia?.” It’s like wow, that is amazing. Or I get an offer from a guy in Dubai for one of my listings and I go into escrow with a guy in Dubai. That would have never happened without the World Wide Web. What is happening with the web and how it’s affecting our growth is phenomenal. Touching the entire world with the click of a mouse. It’s unreal. I love it.

A lot of people have tried to emulate your success? What kinds of agents are you looking to employ? What qualities and characteristics do they need to be successful in this business?

I just want people who really, really, really want to take this job seriously. This is a real job. In our industry, 95 percent of the people think real estate is a part-time job. For me, I’m looking for people who want to take the job serious, so they have to show up, dress up and they have to want to prospect and constantly work on their skills. They have to be willing to learn every single day.

They have to be flexible and be multi-taskers. You have to really sincerely care about people. Because if you don’t care about people, you’ll never make a good agent, at least in residential sales, because this business is so emotional.

Do agents have it better today than you did when you were starting out?

They’re fortunate to be in real estate today because with the internet they can achieve results quicker. I try to share as much information and as many experiences with them as I can because I don’t want them to make mistakes. I want them to be way ahead of the game and way ahead of the curve.

How have you been able to excel?

Focus plays a big part. Ed [Marty's son] manages the team, Shelley [Marty's daughter] runs the company. Sean [Marty's son] does technology. Without them, I would have never gotten to this point. Never! Their combined efforts and talents have allowed me to focus only on selling and working with my sales team. That is why I am so good at what I do. Focus is the key word. If your family understands that you’ve made this decision to do this, and they back you, you have a big head start. When my kids were little, my husband would say don’t put things in mom’s head that don’t belong there. She needs to focus on selling. My husband understands. Even though he’s not a salesperson, he understands what it takes to be a salesperson.

I notice you give him equal billing on your car’s license plate.

Ed’s a saint. I wouldn’t want to be married to me. Poor Ed.

Is the fact you’re No. 1 because you can simply offer more services and a wealth of experience that your competitors simply can’t match? For instance, I heard that one time you had clients who was dealing with a mold issue and you pulled them out of the house and put them up in a hotel at your expense until the issue was resolved.

That was a while ago, but we do that a lot … going above and beyond. There is always a lot of activity in our office, there are always lots of agents off whom you can bounce ideas. This office opens at 8 a.m., not 8:01, not 8:02, but 8 a.m. sharp. When we tell people we’re going to be here, we’re here. We’re here from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

So, there is all that activity going on in the office. We’re keeping escrows together, answering questions and just always being there for the clients. Whether it’s me or staff or management, there is somebody to help them.

Real estate has been good to you. Do you invest in other assets, as well, so as to have a “balanced portfolio,” as most wealth experts would recommend?

Most of our investments are in real estate for the very reason I believe in the adage, “Invest in what you know.” That said, we have savings with Merrill Lynch. But the majority is in real estate. It’s what I know. It’s what I do.

Would you recommend a real estate career to a young person?

Age doesn’t matter. As long as you have the skill and want to sell. To be a salesperson, you must be outgoing and willing to learn all the time. You’ve got to be very flexible. This is not an 8 to 5 job. That’s why my clients love me. They know Marty is going to pick up the phone.

Yesterday, I had a client who told me she wouldn’t be available until 10 p.m. At 10:10, I called her, because I knew how torn she was about the request for repairs. If I hadn’t called her, she wouldn’t have slept last night. I called her and she was relieved. That’s what she liked about me and that’s what I want them to like about my people.

This is a 24/7 business. If my clients call me on Sunday, more than likely I’m going to answer the phone or call them right back. If they need me, they need me. And I made that decision. This lifestyle isn’t for everybody. If your family is not going to support you, it’s not going to work.

Are you enjoying the business as much as ever.

What I really enjoy the most is the challenge, and it’s been especially challenging the last five years. My team and I have been putting together transactions that I just don’t think could have been completed by anyone else. We have so many people who can help in these transactions and put them together.

When should people consider making their first home purchase?

As soon as they can. Because, you know what, if you’re going to rent, somebody is going to be in control of the security of your home. So, either your rent is going to go up or the owners are going to tell you that it’s time to move.

I’m one of 11 kids. We were raised in a two-bedroom, one-bath house. But the most valuable thing about that was my father owned it. We had security. Nobody ever told us to get out or move. It was ours. I don’t how they did it.

It’s good to be young and not know some things.

That’s important what you say, that it’s good to be young and not know. When I built my first house, I was young and didn’t really know a whole lot. All I knew was what I wanted and we kept pushing and driving for that. Then we built a second house. Then we moved to Glendora. I bought a lot. We didn’t have the money, so we borrowed it. I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I knew what I wanted. Probably, if I knew too much about the financial part of it, it might not have happened. All I knew was that I had to work hard. I always worked two jobs. That was normal for me.

If you hadn’t become a Realtor, what do you think you would have done instead?

When I first got out of high school, I went to work for Allstate Insurance. I was also working at my dad’s restaurant and working at another pizza place. So for me, that was really three jobs. Then when I met Ed, I was working at Allstate doing payroll and working as a waitress and going to night school. So, it’s always been multi-tasking. There were so many things going on. I don’t know how to live any different.